Community Comes Together To Build High School Courtyard Ecosystem

BATAVIA, IL — Phase one of Batavia High School's courtyard transformation — turning an underused space into a self-sustaining ecosystem — is complete. To mark the occasion, the Batavia Chamber of Commerce hosted a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 10.

Batavia Mayor Jeffery Schielke presided over the ceremony, and he was joined by BHS cultural studies teacher Elizabeth Faulhaber — also the staff sponsor for the high school's Ecology Club — as well as Margaret Perreault, president and CEO of the Batavia Chamber.

Ecology Club harvested an idea to convert a 170-by-35-foot area into a tranquil space as an environmental project, one intended to benefit not only the club but any student looking for peace on campus.

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Besides functioning as a live classroom for the Ecology Club, the new courtyard will also provide jobs and tasks to coincide with vocational students' learning track.

"This space will help with the sensory needs of our students," said David Kleinschmidt, a vocational special education teacher at the high school, in a previous statement. "The different types of surfaces, smell, and sights that the project will provide will fulfill those students needing sensory accommodations."

Kleinschmidt also worked with other special education teachers to help the Ecology Club plan the design for their students. Going forward, they'll continue finding ways for students to "play a greater role in the entire courtyard project," the release said.

Students working on the project, "enthusiastically sanctioned" by high school administrators, secured funds and professional help for design and installation, the Chamber said in a news release. One of the donors was design and installation company Aquaspace, which provided the design and labor for phase one of the courtyard project.

RELATED: Batavia HS Club Transforms Courtyard Into Environmental Project

When Faulhaber reached out to the St. Charles-based company last year, Ed Beaulieu, vice president of field research and contractor development at Aquaspace, said he "couldn’t resist volunteering my efforts for the design and construction process."

On Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, students and volunteers built a shallow, elongated pond modeled after the Fox River in the courtyard. Stretching across a 30-by-10-foot space, the pond also includes an intake bay in its design to simplify maintenance, according to the company.

Staff from the City of Batavia donated limestone, recycled from a building teardown, which was used to create a border for the pond. Batavia firefighters, along with volunteers, also hauled in logs through the school's library to help naturalize the features.

"Our challenge was working with a new group of students every few hours as they rotated through the construction process with our technical team," Beaulieu, who wasn't able to attend the ribbon cutting, said in a statement. "Fortunately, two incredible young ladies stayed the entire build and led by example. Rather than me teaching each new group how to dig properly, place rocks, and backfill voids with river rock, Abby Piwowarczyk and Eleni Salas, both seniors, demonstrated all of the proper steps to their peers."

The club also held fundraisers and secured donations of money and materials from local organizations including Batavia Lions Club, Batavia United Way, Batavia Woman’s Club and Chip In Batavia.

Now onto phase two of the project, students will work to transform the remaining grass-covered courtyard and incorporate native plants into the space. To help, Julie Christman, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, donated $5,000 as seed money.

The grant comes from The Judy Marzuki Endowment Fund for Nature and Environment, established in 2012 by Marzuki's brother Jack to "improve and protect the environment and nature which were such an important part of Judy’s life." Marzuki, who was born in 1943 and died in 2000, was disabled from birth but found comfort in nature and the outdoors, the fund's description reads.

Anyone interested in helping or donating to the high school's project can contact the Batavia Chamber of Commerce at 630-879-7134.

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